November, 2000

Hi Dolls,

So the Argentina Turner Review rolled through the South not long ago. Birmingham, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky and that big of all states Austin, Texas where our next President hails from... no he's not, yes he is, no he's not, yes he is, no he's not, yes he is? Oh please God, NO!

Let's start with Birmingham, Alabama. Thanks to a Ramblings fan we went to the "Irondale Cafe" (the inspiration for the Whistle Stop Cafe in Fannie Flagg's Fried Green Tomatoes, etc.) It was closed on a Saturday. What were they thinking? I did see a slow moving freight train pass by the cafe and could only imagine what a fried green tomato tastes like. Thanks for the tip Charles. We did go to "Bottega", 2240 Highland Avenue. Phone: 205-939-1000 and it was delicious. Southern Nouvelle cuisine? I think so.

Can we talk about Southern white women? What is it with all the make-up and hair and jewelry? Mind you they look gorgeous, but at such expense and time. Now, I must say the city hosts a bevy of exquisitely beautiful black women... with far less make-up. I mean seriously beautiful women. And the architecture is majestic in Birmingham. It's that Southern... I don't know what. I do know they are a proud people, the Southerners, if you can judge a people by their architecture. I want to be a walking guide in Savannah, Georgia. Such a supremely genteel and majestic city. So if I don't work at the Mailboxes, etc. in Laguna Beach, CA, you'll find me strolling the gardens of Savannah with an inexplicable Southern drawl. Ha kin yew not drrraaaawwl win yer in the Souuuutth?

I love Austin, Texas. This city has one of the most joyful spirits of any city I have ever been in. Perhaps because it is a liberal college town. I do know that if you go there, you must see over one million bats wake up and depart the eaves of a bridge over I can't remember the river's name at dusk. It takes over a half an hour for all of them to take flight. It looks like the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. One of nature's spectacles. Sixth Street is the street of bars. You will find any inclination you so choose. But do check out the Gay Country & Western Bar that enchanted us all with the two-stepping called "The Rainbow Cattle Company". Mind you, this was three years ago that I went there, and I wanted to go this time, but we had to leave Austin too early...

...to come back to New York, where there is a GREAT Cuban Restaurant in Chelsea. "Cuba Libre", at 20th & 8th. I can't tell you how good this is. I've been there three times. Check it out. I'm in New York more frequently these days because I have returned to Lincoln Center Theatre. What a happy place to be on stage. When I was at Juilliard I used to gaze out of the window to the Lincoln Center Plaza across 65th Street and wonder when I would ever work there. It took eighteen years to get there the first time with "Anything Goes." There is something that makes me feel noble and as if I am achieving something just walking across the Plaza and entering one of the Lincoln Center theatres. I look back across 65th Street at my Alma Mater and feel as though I've come home. It's so reassuring. I've played Avery Fisher Hall and the Vivian Beaumont. Next stop the Met.

It's Thanksgiving. Time to give thanks. I thank God and the Muses every time I go on stage and come offstage without any major mishaps and maybe, some enlightenment. I thank God and the Muses for Andre Bishop and Bernie Gersten for bringing me back to Lincoln Center. I thank God and the Muses for the happiness in our merry band of players. I thank God and the Muses it's only two nights a week. I thank God and the Muses for my family, first and foremost, for the chickens, for Indy and her ten pups, and for Lucky, the cat we found. I thank God and the Muses for the serene love and chaos of my home.

On Thanksgiving day at the LayZLay we flambe' our turkey and have a moment of silence for all the actors around the world stuck in the proverbial turkey. Then we eat it.

Happy Thanksgiving Dolls.

Love, Patti

 

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